The first step towards realizing this vision was to apply to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), and to propose “SkyLight” as an official initiative of the International Year of Light 2015. The GSO journey truly began when this request was approved in the summer of 2014.

During the period July, 2014 until October, 2015, a network of institutions in 38 countries was invited to take part in the first GSO, “SkyLight”. These were schools, universities, operas, and science and art institutions. We engaged in a democratic and creative global effort which exhibited a flat hierarchy in which pupils could interact with professors, composers could interact with physicists, science teachers could interact with opera educators, and all participants could freely learn from, and explore, together with all others: Democracy, respect and friendship was, and will be, the heart of this community.